By Emeka Amaefula
“WHEN YOU ARE IN OFFICE PEOPLE THINK THINGS ARE GOING WELL WITH YOU—I WAS POISONED WHILE I WAS GOVERNOR OF RIVERS STATE” –NYESOM WIKE CONFESSES
The former Governor of Rivers state Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike while having a Thanksgiving Church service at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Deanery in his home town Rumuepirikom in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of River State on Sunday 18th of June, 2023 as he revealed how he was poisoned at Peoples Democratic party’s Secretariat in 2018 a year ahead of his re-election in 2019.
While giving his testimony before the congregation he said that his health challenge which has been life threatening has been kept as a family secret until he revealed so at the altar except his wife Justice Suzette Eberechi Wike and few immediate family members knew what exactly happened to him in 2018.A
According to the former Governor, his internal body organs including his liver and kidneys were all affected and that the ailment almost took his life but that God kept him alive. In his own words “God was in charge, everybody who knew how we came to power in 2015, knew it was turbulent. But God saw us through. When you are in Office, many people think things are going well with you. Nobody wants to find out the problems you are facing as a human.
“In December 2018, a day my former Chief of Staff was going to have Thanksgiving. I was to attend that Thanksgiving. Since that Sunday I have never come down from my room. It was bad. But those who attended the January 1st State Banquet of 2019 will know that I never spoke that day. I just sat down there and told the Deputy Governor to speak on my behalf. I thought it was over.”
Narrating further he said that he was taken to a hospital in Beirut capital of Lebanon around midnight where several doctors undertook many laboratory tests after which he was told that his liver and kidney were all gone. Thus, he revealed that at that moment he did not know that he was poisoned at the Peoples ‘Democratic party’s Secretariat. The former Governor said that after some time the doctors returned only to tell him that his body organs had started working. After spending two weeks in Beirut, Lebanon the Doctors asked him to return to Nigeria which he did.
But that was before the starting of his second term governorship re-election political campaigns which he had to alter the fixtures of his itinerary across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
He spoke about how his party at the national had ganged up against him saying that he would be arrested after they win the Presidential election at the centre and this troubled his followers in the state since some of the governorship candidates signed an agreement which was drafted by the PDP elders saying that whoever that wins that others should support the choice of the party. As he said “ When somebody was chosen, there was a gang-up. They moved to Abuja and started plotting how they would arrest me after winning at the center. All evil plots failed.
“Those close to me were worried. But I told them to have faith they would not be finished. God never abandoned us. Today we have a governor, who is our successor. I don’t look back because I know I am protected everywhere.”
The occasion attracted high profile dignitaries from across the country and beyond including the Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanyo Olu, who was present on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Other dignitaries are Senate President Godswill Obot Akpabio, former Ministers, serving Federal Lawmakers plus 35-members of the Federal House of Representatives, and 32 members of Rivers state House of Assembly and Traditional Rulers, business moguls, and Traditional Rulers from Rivers state and its environs.
